President Obama was forthright last night in telling
Americans and the world why we must intervene in Libya. No one could doubt the evidence he used to build his case of opposing a bloodbath. The evidence was everywhere before our eyes.

This was not true of Bush and Iraq. The reasons he concocted for going to war did not pass the sniff test. Bush and Cheney told the world that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had
weapons of mass destruction, that he was giving them to terrorists, and that we
would be greeted as liberators.

None of it was true.

- Advertisement -

Now, if my friends on the right want to believe Bush/Cheney
believed such things, then go right ahead. Still, these were somebody's lies,
manifestly obtained through bribery, torture and other manipulations.

The New York Times, Newsweek and a handful of others
reported years ago--back on pages 10 and 12, where it wouldn't offend people in
high places--that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi was tortured into saying Saddam intended to
deliver WMDs to terrorists. Al-Libi later recanted.
Several of us in independent media online started a movement to make al-Libi famous, and
let the chips fall. The idea was that we would march on Washington carrying
banners featuring one word: Al-Libi (which means The Libyan) in an effort to spark more interest in the lies that got us into Iraq.

- Advertisement -

That's when al-Libi died mysteriously in a Libyan prison,
supposedly by his own hand. Our movement fizzled as we tried to make sense of
what had happened, and how losing our best potential source would affect our efforts.

The other liar who fed the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld (and yes,
Rice and Powell) war machine was Ahmed Chalibi. He led the chorus about how
we'd be greeted as liberators. A real piece of work, Chalibi. Google him
sometime.

I say all that to say this. To compare the situation in Iraq
and Libya is to obfuscate. To contrast them is to clarify.

Had armies of pro-democracy rebels been marching on Baghdad;
had Saddam been in the process of bombing hell out of freedom fighters, and had blood
been flowing in the streets, I might've given Bush the benefit of the doubt
in Iraq. But nothing like that pertained when we bombed, invaded and unleashed ethnic slaughter leading to the deaths of hundreds of
thousands and the dislocation of millions.

Libya is manifestly different.

There, armies of pro-democracy rebels are on the march.
Gaddafi made it plain that he would bomb them then hunt down and kill
every last rebel supporter. There would be no mercy in Libya. Thousands
would've been murdered in the streets and in their beds by Libyan air strikes and door-to-door
home invasions in Benghazi alone.

- Advertisement -

So, to hear a nightly drumbeat on MS-NBC about how we should
stay out of Libya is disillusioning. While their case is defensible, it's hardly inspiring. What happened to our high idealism regarding
basic human rights for the downtrodden?

Admittedly, criticism from the left is not as disgusting as watching Fox News
endlessly loop rants from the right. Whatever happened to their mantras? Support the Troops.
Close Ranks. Don't 'Blame America First,' especially When Troops Are
in Harm's Way? Anyone, early on, who dared criticize the war in Iraq could expect to
be shouted down or kicked out of the studio by Bill O'Reilly, Shawn Hannity and their ilk.
After all the revelations of lies, corrupt contracts, torture, and massacres, how
dare they uphold a double standard on this?

Let's get real. Neither the war in Afghanistan nor the war
in Iraq were about saving innocent lives in those countries. Yes, Saddam was a terrible
dictator, but there were no armies of opposition marching on his strongholds.
No banners in public squares. Those days were past. Moreover, United Nations inspectors in search of
weapons of mass destruction were on the ground. Libya is different in every way that counts.

Don Williams is a prize-winning columnist, short story writer, freelancer, and the founding editor and publisher of New Millennium Writings, an annual anthology of literary stories, essays and poems. His awards include a National Endowment for the (more...)